What makes a city healthy? A healthy city provides solid access to health care, healthy food and fitness centers and also has ample green spaces for resident use, according to WalletHub, which recently released its ranking of over 170 U.S. cities for healthiness.
To compile the rankings, WalletHub ranked each city in 43 areas, each related to health care, food, fitness or green space. The more heavily weighted categories include the premature death rate, fruit and vegetable consumption and the share of adults who engage in any physical activity.
Large West Coast cities dominated the top 10 list, while all of the 10 cities at the bottom of the list were in the South, with the exception of Detroit. Below are WalletHub’s 10 healthiest and 10 least healthy cities for 2020.
Top 10 healthiest cities, according to WalletHub
1. San Francisco
2. Seattle
3. San Diego
4. Portland, Oregon
5. Washington, DC
6. New York
7. Denver
8. Irvine, California
9. Scottsdale, Arizona
10. Chicago
The 10 least healthy cities, according to WalletHub
174. Brownsville, Texas
173. Laredo, Texas
172. Gulfport, Mississippi
171. Shreveport, Louisiana
170. Memphis, Tennessee
169. Montgomery, Alabama
168. Huntington, West Virginia
167. Augusta, Georgia
166. Fort Smith, Arkansas
165. Detroit, Michigan
However, when you isolate the health care rankings, some different cities rise to the top and fall to the bottom of the rankings.
Top 10 cities for health care, according to WalletHub
1. Overland Park, Kansas
2. Irvine, California
3. Burlington, Vermont
4. Santa Clarita, California
5. Minneapolis, Minnesota
6. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
7. Virginia Beach, Virginia
8. Huntington Beach, California
9. Fremont, California
10. Plano, Texas
Bottom 10 cities for health care, according to WalletHub
174. Brownsville, Texas
173. North Las Vegas, Nevada
172. New Orleans
171. Gulfport, Mississippi
170. Detroit
169. Indianapolis
168. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
167. San Bernardino, California
166. Memphis, Tennessee
165. Shreveport, Louisiana
For more details, including more information on the ranking’s methodology, see the full report on WalletHub.
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1 comment
They are not measuring where the people are actually healthy, but where people have the best opportunity to be healthy. The title of the article should be changed to reflect that.